Last year's losers win 7th straight

Last season the Cavaliers lostin epic fashionand came away with the biggest prize in some time, LeBron James.

The Bulls' rapid descent to the league's worst record and most Ping-Pong balls come draft lottery time continued Tuesday night at a raucous Gund Arena, after which coach Scott Skiles hinted at lineup changes.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas owned Eddy Curry to the tune of 24 points and 17 reboundsCurry played only 18 minutesand Carlos Boozer added 22 points and 13 rebounds to spark the Cavaliers to a 111-87 victory, their seventh straight.

"We didn't show up," Skiles said. "Right now, we're having a hard time showing up. I'm going to do everything I can to continue to put the guys out there who look like they want to play."

Curry said he would feel like a scapegoat if he were pulled from the lineup but agreed he didn't show up.

"I didn't play so great," he said. "'Z' killed me. That's all I'm thinking about. I'm not thinking about the time I was out there because when I was out there, I wasn't doing much."

The Bulls, paced by Jamal Crawford's 17 points, have lost seven straight.

And this season, there is no Jamesor any franchise-changing player, for that matterwaiting for the draft lottery winner.

James exhibited what the Bulls won't get in painful fashion with 17 points, eight assists, five blocks and five highlight-reel plays on a subpar shooting night as Cleveland posted its longest winning streak in more than seven years. The Cavaliers' pointed to a March 1 loss in Chicago as motivation. Cleveland hasn't lost since. The Bulls haven't won since.

Right after tipoff, Boozer laid in a feed from James. And within 6:01, Antonio Davis had two personal fouls and one technical and Skiles followed suit, almost chasing after official Sean Corbin for his technical.

"When I looked at [the first play] on tape [at halftime], it was just five guys spectating from the time the ball went up to start the game," Skiles said. "That happened all night long. I got tired of watching it and put the bench out there."

Skiles praised the effort of his bench players, many of whom are months, weeks or days removed from the minor leagues.

"They're playing hard," Skiles said. "They're guys who are still learning the NBA game, so they make rookie-type mistakes, which is understandable. But for the most part, the effort is there every day and night with those guys.

"And I'm not going to be hesitant to put guys out there who look like they want to play and try to win."

Cleveland led by as many as 32 points and outrebounded the Bulls 57-43, with Ilgauskas tying his career-high with 10 of the Cavs' 23 offensive rebounds.

Bits: New Bull Jannero Pargo had four turnovers and five assists in 17 minutes. Linton Johnson's second 10-day contract expires Thursday. Expect him to be re-signed for the remainder of the season. Kirk Hinrich entered Monday's action ranked eighth in the league with 6.5 assists per game. Imagine his total if the Bulls didn't rank last in the league in field-goal percentage.